THIS WEEK: North Dakota heads back on the road for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series this weekend at All Seasons Arena against Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. and 3:07 p.m., respectively.

TUNE IN: A live blog will be open for fans during the game at www.UNDSports.com or you can get live updates by following UNDWHockey through twitter. Live stats for the game can be found through www.MSUMavericks.com.

There is a webcast available through www3.mnsu.edu/athletics.

ABOUT MSU: The Mavericks are entering the series with an 9-14-3 overall record (5-12-3 WCHA).

Head coach Eric Means is in his fourth season with a career record of 31-89-12. He has a career record of 5-7-2 against UND and is assisted by Jon Austin, Shari Dickerman and Dean Williamson.

MSU is led by senior Lauren Smith who has a career 83 points including 26 this season in 19 goals and seven assists. Junior forwards Tracy McCann and Kathleen Rogan, along with senior defenseman Emilia Anderson, all have double-digit points this year.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES: MSU leads the all-time series 22-12-6 and 13-4-3 in Mankato, but UND has gone 6-3-1 against the Mavericks in its last 10 games.

LAST TIME THEY MET: North Dakota opened the regular season against the Mavericks on Oct. 5-6 in Grand Forks and played to a series split.

The Mavericks spoiled UND's home-opener scoring three goals in the final 10 minutes, including the game-winner with 42 seconds remaining, to earn a 3-2 victory.

UND answered to earn the split with a dominant 4-1 win in the finale outshooting the Mavericks 41-20.

LAST ACTION: UND earned a pair of wins at St. Cloud State last weekend defeating the Huskies 6-2 and 3-0.

Senior Monique Lamoureux snapped a nine-game scoreless streak in a big way as she tallied her second hat trick of the season, including her 100th collegiate goal, and adding one assist for a four-point game. Michelle Karvinen and Sam LaShomb added goals in the game.

UND grinded out a 3-0 win Saturday to sweep the series and all four regular-season meetings. Freshman Shelby Amsley-Benzie collected her second career shutout and her second in the last two weekends since being named the everyday starter in net. She allowed two goals on the weekend while making 55 saves for a .965 save percentage. Meghan Dufault scored her 12th goal of the season in the first period, Jocelyne Lamoureux tallied UND's first shorthanded goal of the season in the second period and Josefine Jakobsen added a power-play goal in the final stanza.

CONFERENCE HONORS: Shelby Amsley-Benzie, who collected her first collegiate shutout in a two-game split with nationally-ranked Wisconsin last weekend, has been named the WCHA Women's Rookie of the Week for January 22.

A freshman from Warroad, Minn., Amsley-Benzie made both starts for UND on the Jan. 18-19 weekend, stopping 48 of 50 shots on goal for a .960 save percentage, posting four shutout periods, and blanking the Badgers on all 11 of their series power-play opportunities. She notched her first career shutout last Friday with a 19-save, 3-0, victory, and then surrendered just one goal while making 29 stops in a 2-1 setback last Saturday. She was the No. 2 Star of the Game Friday and the No. 3 Star of the Game on Saturday.

In 14 games played for North Dakota this season, Amsley-Benzie owns a 7-6-0 record with a 2.79 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.

MISSING FROM ACTION: Sophomore Andrea Dalen and senior Jorid Dagfinrud will be away from the team this weekend as they will centralize with their Norwegian National Team for the in the Final Qualification Group C Tournament in Poprad, Slovakia, held Feb. 7-10.

TAKING ADVANTAGE: Senior Jocelyne Lamoureux leads the nation with 11 power-play goals on the season. She is also tied for the national lead with six game-winning goals.

FROM THE BLUE LINE: Senior Monique Lamoureux has a four-point lead over Minnesota's Megan Bozek for the national lead in points by a defenseman. Lamoureux has 43 points on the year.

CARVING UP THE DEFENSE: Junior Michelle Karvinen is currently eighth in the nation in points per game at 1.93 (9-18-27).

POLL POSITION: UND is back in both polls ranked No. 9 in both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and in the USCHO.com Poll.

BRIGHT FUTURE: North Dakota recruits had strong showings at the 2013 U18 World Championship as Canadian Halli Krzyzaniak was voted the tournament's best defensive player and was tied for the lead in points by a defenseman (2-5-7) while winning a gold medal. Gracen Hirschy was eighth in points by a defenseman (0-3-3), Amy Menke finished third in scoring (4-5-9) and Lexi Shaw went 2-0-0 with two shutouts helping the United States to a silver medal.

MARKS TO REMEMBER: Jocelyne Lamoureux is now in the top-five all-time for career scoring at fifth with 255 points (118-137-255). Monique Lamoureux is seventh with 236 (102-141-243). The two rank second and fourth all-time by a WCHA player, respectively.

Both are in the back-half of their senior seasons and chasing the WCHA all-time record set by Hilary Knight who had 262 points including a record 143 goals. Minnesota's Natalie Darwitz holds the all-time conference record of 144 assists.

FOUR NATIONS CUP: Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2012 Four Nations Cup in Finland. Jocelyne Lamoureux had one goal and four assists while Monique Lamoureux added one goal and three assists and was named her team's player of the game against Sweden.

ONE STEP CLOSER: Sophomore Josefine Jakobsen and Denmark went 3-0 in the Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Latvia. The Danes will now advance to the Final Olympic Qualification Group C Tournament in Poprad, Slovakia, held Feb. 7-10.

WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FOES: Four teams in Denmark, Japan, Norway and Slovakia will compete in the Final Qualification Group C Tournament in Poprad, Slovakia, held Feb. 7-10. UND's Josefine Jakobsen, who competes for Denmark, will compete to advance to 2014 Olympics against collegiate teammates Jorid Dagfinrud and Andrea Dalen when they face off against Norway. Jakobsen and Dalen are also roommates in Grand Forks.

STARTING STRONG: North Dakota has scored the game's first goal in 15 of its 22 contests.